Hold on to crop: Made

The Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, Dr. Joseph Made says cotton farmers should continue picking their cotton and can hold on to it if the prices remain low.

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He said government is yet to conclude the new pricing framework that will be viable to enable the farmer to go back to the land.Â

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Dr. Made, who was briefing the media on the progress made so far on negotiations to review the cotton price, encouraged farmers not to lose hope as cabinet is working flat out to ensure that they get a fair share for the white gold.

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â€œWe are saying farmers should not stop picking their cotton, they should continue and can hold on to their crop if the prices remain low, what the government is doing is trying to engage and talk to buyers to be lenient to farmers, we are also putting in place a mechanism that will ensure that contractors in the future should first engage the ministry and give their proper budget to avoid the same situation that farmers will be found on the receiving end all the time,â€ said Dr. Made.Â The minister however applauded some buyers whom he said have taken heed of governmentâ€™s call to increase the price of cotton to 50 cents per kg.

Minister Made however expressed concern over power outages, saying it is unfortunate that the bulk of the winter wheat crop is now suffering from moisture stress.

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He however urged farmers to form clusters and approach the Agritex department for assistance on how to manage the crop under such conditions.

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This year the country has planted over seven thousand hectares of winter wheat, compared to more that 10 000 that were planted last year.